Have a birth certificate? 230 million children worldwide not registered & have no rights #humanrights #birthrights

Birth registration and the right of everyone to recognition everywhere as a person before the law determines how a life is lived

The Human Rights Council, Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,

Reaffirming the human right of everyone to be recognized everywhere as a person before the law, which is enshrined in, inter alia, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other relevant international instruments,

Recalling the obligation of States to register all children, without discrimination of any kind, immediately after birth, as provided for in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families and other relevant international instruments to which they are party,

Recognizing the importance of a human rights-based approach to birth registration, based on international human rights obligations and commitments operationally directed to promoting and protecting human rights,

Welcoming the continuing efforts of the Committee on the Rights of the Child and other treaty-based bodies towards universal birth registration, such as through recommendations widely addressed to States in this regard,

Recognizing the importance of birth registration, including late birth registration and provision of documents of proof of birth, as a means of providing an official record of the existence of a person and the recognition of that individual as a person before the law,

Expressing concern that unregistered individuals may have limited or no access to services and enjoyment of all the rights to which they are entitled, and taking into consideration that registering a person’s birth is a vital step towards the promotion and protection of all his or her human rights, and that persons without birth registration are more vulnerable to marginalization, exclusion, discrimination, violence, statelessness, exploitation and abuse,

Recognizing that free birth registration and free or low-fee late birth registration are part of a comprehensive civil registration system that facilitates the development of vital statistics and the effective planning and implementation of programmes and policies intended to promote better governance and to achieve internationally agreed development goals,

Recognizing further that non-governmental organizations, professional associations, media, the private sector and other members of civil society, including those involved in public-private partnerships, can also contribute to the improvement and promotion of community awareness of birth registration in a manner that reflects national priorities and strategies,

Expresses concern at the fact that, despite ongoing efforts to increase the global rate of birth registration, approximately 230 million children under the age of 5 worldwide are still not registered, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund;

Reminds States of their obligation to register births without discrimination of any kind and irrespective of the status of the parents of the child, and also reminds States that birth registration should take place immediately after birth, and that late birth registration should be limited to those cases that would otherwise result in a lack of registration;

Welcomes the report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on birth registration and the right of everyone to recognition everywhere as a person before the law,[1] which documents the wide range of barriers to access to universal birth registration, as well as the good practices adopted by States in fulfilling their obligation to ensure birth registration;

Calls upon States to establish or strengthen existing institutions at all levels responsible for birth registration and the preservation and security of such records, to ensure adequate training for registration officers, to allocate sufficient and adequate human, technical and financial resources to fulfil their mandate, and to increase, as needed, the accessibility of birth registration facilities, either by increasing the number or through other means, such as mobile birth registration officials in rural areas, paying attention to the local community level, promoting community awareness and working to address the barriers faced by vulnerable groups, such as persons with disabilities, in their access to birth registration